


A Simple Misundertanding

by detachedbutterfly5253



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Caring Deceit Sanders, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Happy Ending, Humor, Misunderstandings, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides), Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, almost hurt/comfort but not quite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24303472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detachedbutterfly5253/pseuds/detachedbutterfly5253
Summary: Things had been going well. Aside from the fiasco that was Roman's reaction to his name, Janus had been happy with how things went. It wasn't until the video was up and it was too late, that Janus realized there was something he had forgotten to tell Remus: The fact that Janus had called him evil.A story made to make me feel better about Remus angst, in which Janus makes a fool out of himself and Remus has a good laugh about it.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 115





	A Simple Misundertanding

Janus felt like the world was going to devour him whole.

Things had been going well. Aside from the fiasco that was Roman's reaction to his name, Janus had been happy with how things went. He had given a vague rundown on what happened to Remus when he got back home to the dark sides' part of the mindscape, but he hadn't given any details on Roman's reaction. He didn't want Remus to be upset by what Roman said, so he had simply said that Roman wasn't happy about things and left it at that.

It wasn't until the video was up and it was too late, that Janus realized there was something else he left out.

Janus was sitting at his desk in his room, scrolling through Tumblr to see fan reactions. There was a wide smile on his face as he read the positivity. People saying Roman had reacted badly, people saying Deceit was becoming one of their favorites, and much more. There were a few people that said he was out of line, sure, but for the most part, people seemed to be siding with him. A bit surprising, considering how loved Roman was, but certainly not an unpleasant surprise.

Then he found one post that made his heart feel as though it had ice in it.

It was a short ficlet, one about Remus's reaction to what had been said. In the story, Remus was... Utterly heartbroken. The reason why slowly pieced itself together in Janus's mind. He had called Remus _evil._ Had called him the evil twin.

Janus felt his blood run cold, a pit forming in his stomach. He hadn't even considered that when he originally made the comment. He hadn't thought about anything other than how to hurt Roman, to get it across to him that he was being truly cruel when he made his joke.

Now, however, Janus was the cruel one. He hadn't meant to be, and yet here he was. He could practically see Remus's heartbroken look in his mind's eye. Immediately, Janus began trying to think of a way to stop that.

Perhaps Remus hadn't already seen the video. If Janus could just convince Remus to avoid watching it, he might be able to spare Remus the hurt. Knowing time was of the essence, Janus stood quickly and walked swiftly out of his room, not giving himself time to even think before he walked into the commons. This was the part of the mindscape that was shared, as opposed to the three hallways leading to the light, neutral, and dark sides' rooms respectively. And there was Remus, sitting at the dining table and polishing his morningstar.

"Hello, Remus," Janus started casually, moving to sit across from him. Remus looked up from his work to see Janus and immediately grinned.

"Hey there, Dee Dee!" Remus responded. Immediately, Janus began thinking. Perhaps despite the name reveal, Remus refused to drop the nickname. Why would he? He had already known Janus's name and still formed the nickname, so the reveal wouldn't suddenly change that. Or the option Janus hoped was true... Remus hadn't seen the video yet. Janus could only hope and pray.

"Thomas posted the video," Janus began, trying to sound simply conversational.

“Yep!” Remus responded, looking down at his morningstar again to continue polishing it. “He sure did!”

“I watched through it again, and realized that it might be best if you refrained from watching it yourself,” Janus continued. Remus looked at him, face showing confusion. “I realized there might be some content in there that you might not be the biggest fan of. Specifically, some things said between Roman and I.” A half-truth, half-lie. One of Janus’s favorites, as they were always the easiest to convince someone of. A scowl came across Remus’s face, but Janus tried to press on. “As such, you should-”

“Dee, I already watched it,” Remus huffed, looking down at his morningstar again and glaring as he scrubbed at it aggressively. “I already know what was said.”

Janus felt his stomach drop and his shoulders tense. He was hit with the abrupt realization that he had placed himself in a position in which Remus was between him and the door. And since he was already in the mindscape, he couldn’t sink out. There was nowhere to sink out _to_ , unless he sunk out to stand near Thomas. Considering Thomas was with friends at the moment, that didn’t sound like it would go over well.

Which meant he would have to get past an apparently angry Remus if he wanted to leave the room.

Janus cursed himself internally. He had been so focused on the idea that the fans had created, the idea that Remus would be sad, that he hadn’t stopped to consider that Remus could be _angry_ , too. No time to dwell on that, though. He had to diffuse the situation before Remus had a chance to think of using that morningstar for something other than polishing.

“Did you now?” Janus hummed, leaning back in his chair to appear more relaxed. _Totally_ not to be further away from a clearly _pissed_ Remus. “Based on your expression, I take it you’re not too pleased.”

Remus went quiet for a moment, then glanced up at Janus, just enough to show the slightly deranged grin on his face. “There’s a reason my morningstar needed to be polished.”

Janus tensed even more as it hit him like a ton of bricks. Remus must have seen the video right when it was posted, meaning he’d had hours to stew in his anger. Hours for him to plan exactly how he’d react to Janus’s comment. Perhaps he _had_ been hurt as Janus imagined, but now that sadness had turned into anger. Which meant there was very little going back. But… Janus had to try.

“I’m sorry,” Janus blurted, looking down at his hands in his lap. “I didn’t think about what I was saying, Remus, I shouldn’t’ve-”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Remus asked, sounding confused as all hell. Janus looked back up to give Remus a confused look, only to see that Remus’s expression matched. “Did we watch the same video?”

“The- When I revealed my name,” Janus explained. “And Roman reacted poorly.”

“Yeah. Like I said, that’s why I had to polish this bad boy,” Remus nodded, holding the morningstar higher as if to punctuate his point. “Had to kick Roman’s ass at least a little bit!”

“No, Remus, I mean what I said in response,” Janus sighed, his expression showing how disappointed he was in himself. “I… I called you evil, Remus.” This, he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, and?” Remus asked, looking confused still. Janus returned to an expression of confusion as well.

“And I’m sorry,” Janus repeated. “For calling you that.”

Remus was quiet for a bit before a look of realization came across his face. “Oh! Is this one of your lies or something? You’re not actually sorry, it means-”

“No,” Janus stated abruptly. “I wouldn’t lie about something this serious. From the bottom of my heart, Remus, I apologize for insulting you.”

Janus jumped as Remus suddenly barked out a laugh.

“A fucking INSULT?” Remus laughed, shaking his head. Slowly, though, his laughter died down when he saw Janus wasn’t laughing. “Wait, you’re being serious. What?”

And now it was time for Janus’s look of realization. “Oh my god. I’m an idiot.”

“Dee, since when do I-”

“You don’t consider evil an insult,” Janus sighed, leaning forward so he could bury his face in his arms. “It’s a compliment in your mind.”

“Yeah, no shit! How the hell did you think I would be upset about that? That’s like you being upset because I said you’re good at lying!”

“The fans!” Janus huffed, sitting back up. “Some of them were posting about how you’d be hurt by me calling you evil! Heartbroken, even!”

“And you believed them?!” Remus sounded absolutely flabbergasted. Then his mouth started slowly spreading into a smile. “You read one post and immediately decided I was absolutely heartbroken after that?”

“No!” Janus denied, his cheeks going red. Immediately, Remus started laughing again, his morningstar hitting the ground with a loud _clunk_ as he wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned back in his chair to cackle. Janus groaned and hid his face again. “Shut up!”

“Janus Beelzebub Sanders--”

“Not my name.”

“--we have lived together for 31 years!” Remus cackled, ignoring Janus’s correction on the middle name. “And you thought I would be upset because you called me evil? Because of a fucking fan post?!”

“Shut UP!” Janus groaned, burying further into his arms. “I was worried!”

“Dumbass!” Remus cackled. “I thought I was the stupid one!”

“I’m leaving!” Janus huffed, standing up abruptly. “I’m never apologizing for anything again ever!” This only made Remus laugh harder, the sound getting quieter to Janus’s ears as he walked back towards his room. “Next time you ask if I’m upset, I’m making fun of you for it, too!” Janus hollered over his shoulder before shutting his door loudly and immediately flopping onto his bed. Even with the door closed, he could hear Remus practically screaming with laughter.

Janus tossed his hat off and shoved a pillow over the back of his head to block out the noise. He was never going to live this one down, was he?


End file.
